Five Ways to Use Social Media to Create a Strong, Trusted Brand

Today, social media is one of the main ways in which we connect with individuals, groups, and brands. With millions of users signed up to Facebook and Twitter alone, businesses of all sizes and across all industries are realizing an increasing need for a solid social media marketing strategy to both promote their brand and products and build strong relationships with their customers.

However, if you are among the many small businesses who are present on social networks but don’t have a strategy for getting the best results from them, you are not alone. If you’re wondering what to do and post to best reach your customers and engage with them, then there are many things that you can do to improve this and create a clear strategy for action. Here are some of the best ways that small businesses can use social media to build their brand and engage with followers.

Tip #1. Share Product Demonstrations:

Many start-ups today are selling products that are perhaps not quite well-known yet and need a boost into the market to get off the ground. However, if people aren’t sure what your product is or how to use it, then you’re unlikely to get great results from any social media marketing strategies until this problem is resolved.

One of the best ways to do this is by creating a product demonstration video, which can be posted to YouTube and then shared across your social media channels to reach your customers. Introduce your product and then take the viewers through the steps of how to use it and/or what it does, so that they can gain a better understanding of your brand and the items that you offer. Even if you sell a product that is quite well-known, a video explaining it can be a great first post on social media to introduce your brand and give both existing and potential customers the information that they need.

Tip #2. Empower Customers to Take Part:

When it comes to getting the best results from your social media marketing efforts, it’s important to remember that it’s not a one-way street. To truly boost your brand and gain as much exposure as possible to increase sales, revenue and customer loyalty, you will need to engage with your customers and give them the opportunity to be a key part in building your brand.

Thankfully, social media platforms provide one of the best tools with which to do this; you can create polls and surveys that can quickly be accessed and filled in by your followers to help you get a better idea of not just what they think of your social media profiles, but also of your brand, products, services and more.

By encouraging your followers to take an active part in your social media marketing strategy, you will gain more information about customer opinions and views which can then be used to tailor any future decisions that you make to the customers and increase satisfaction levels. In addition, giving your customers a voice in your company and brand sends a clear message that they are your main priority.

Tip #3. Offer Customer Rewards and Competitions:

One of the best parts of marketing your business on social media is that customer shares, retweets, likes and comments can go a long way. For example, if you are using Facebook for marketing purposes, then asking your followers to share a status update means that you’ll increase the potential views to possibly thousands of further users that may have not seen it otherwise. But, how do you get your followers to share your information?

Most of the time, social media users won’t be in a rush to share something unless it means something significant to them, or they receive something in return for doing it. One of the best ways to do this is by offering rewards and social media sharing contests; for example, you could offer ‘refer a friend’ rewards, where new customers, along with the existing follower who shared the link, can get a discount on their next purchase. Or, you can create contents where followers can be in with a chance of winning a prize, by entering all the names of those who shared a status update into a prize draw.

Tip #4. Show Off Your Expertise:

Chances are, your business is not the only one in your industry that’s getting more active on social media and trying to engage more with its followers. One of the biggest drawbacks of using social media marketing is the amount of competition that you will be up against, however, bear in mind that there are also many positives of this. For example, it’s easy to find other brands and businesses on social media; you can use this to your advantage to keep an eye on your biggest competitors and learn what their latest strategies are in order to make more competitive decisions for your own brand.

One of the best methods of gaining an edge over your competition on social media is by simply establishing yourself as an expert in your industry or niche. By sharing informational posts, advice, and other content that will help your customers with solutions to various industry-related problems that they may have, you can gain more trust for your brand name.

Tip #5. Support Good Causes:

Along with showcasing your knowledge and expertise on social media, don’t forget that it’s also one of the best platforms to use when it comes to showing the caring side of your brand. Use a social media poll to help you determine which charitable causes are closest to your customers’ hearts, then, use social media as a force for good to raise awareness and even fundraise on behalf of this chosen charity.

Today, customers aren’t just looking for brands that sell nice products and provide good customer service; they prefer to connect with brands that support similar causes to them and show a human side.